Latest Hydroelectricity News

Mercury NZ posted a 19% increase in first-quarter trading margin to $445 million despite hydro inflows falling to the second percentile. New wind and geothermal output helped offset weaker hydro generation, while major renewable projects moved closer to full operation.

Pivotal Metals’ maiden scoping study gives its Horden Lake copper project a projected post-tax NPV of A$920 million against A$411 million of pre-production capital. The headline returns are strong, but the project remains a preliminary study with no Ore Reserve, material Inferred Resource exposure and more than A$400 million still to raise.

Iron Bear Resources says a new federal-provincial assessment framework, major Labrador clean-energy investment and strategic-project coordination could improve the development pathway for its Canadian iron ore project. The initiatives are supportive, but they do not yet represent project approvals, secured power or construction funding.

Advanced Engineered Materials is forecasting a sharp lift in second-half sales as its Quebec high-purity alumina operation moves from qualification work towards commercial production. The larger prize is a possible 6,000-tonne-per-year expansion, but that plan still depends on feasibility, financing and final investment approval.

Advanced Engineered Materials is targeting a sharp increase in high-purity alumina sales while laying the groundwork for a possible doubling of Cap-Chat capacity to 6,000 tonnes per annum. The opportunity is substantial, but much of the customer pipeline remains uncontracted and the expansion still depends on feasibility work, financing and a final investment decision.

Advanced Engineered Materials (ASX:AEM) reported an 85% jump in high purity alumina sales in 1H 2026, with a customer pipeline now valued at US$190 million amid tightening global supply and rising semiconductor industry demand.

Critica Limited is reshaping its Mt Lindsay Tin-Tungsten Project with an innovative underground mining approach, aiming to reduce surface disturbance and integrate environmental and commercial factors amid strengthening commodity prices.

Advanced Engineered Materials has locked in an exclusive supply agreement with Swiss manufacturer Zürcher Frères, leveraging its nano particle high purity alumina to significantly enhance zirconia-alumina ceramics used in medical and industrial applications.

Pivotal Metals has expanded its Horden Lake copper resource by 42%, lifting the total to 52 million tonnes at 1.05% CuEq, underpinning plans for a large-scale open pit operation in Quebec.

Meridian Energy has received final approval to ease access restrictions on Lake Pūkaki hydro storage for three years, reducing dry-year risk and enhancing supply security through to Winter 2028.

Pivotal Metals has extended its diamond drilling program at the Lorraine Mine East in Quebec, targeting untested copper-nickel and gold anomalies adjacent to a historic mine. The move aims to explore both magmatic sulphide and vein-hosted mineralisation, with drilling underway at the Shanty Lake target and a resource update due for Horden Lake.

Black Rock Mining has secured an extension of its US$204 million debt facility to November 2026, providing more time to finalise equity funding for the Mahenge Graphite Project in Tanzania.